FinTastic! Trending FinTech Start-Ups in Berlin 

Berlin shines as one of the brightest stars on Europe’s fintech start-up landscape. It consists of a huge tech-related talent pool and is an important location for the digital economy. It is the digital hotspot where innovative businesses are born with a variety of financial backgrounds. In fact, according to Netguru, Berlin is home to some of the most successful start-ups in the entire fintech industry.

Solarisbank 

Solarisbank operates over 60 different nations. With multiple engineers, entrepreneurs and seasoned banking experts, they offer a banking-as-a-service platform with a German banking license.

According to TechCrunch, Solarisbank has Trade Republic, American Express, BP, Samsung, and Vivid as customers. They offer basic banking, know-your-customer checks, lending, digital wallets and more. They also place a lot of emphasis on making the entire customer experience as user-friendly as possible. Solarisbank is growing rapidly, with over 2 million customer accounts so far. 

According to growjo, the estimated annual revenue of this start-up is currently $52.9M per year. Founded in 2016, they have expanded to 407 employees – with 24 current job openings.

Nuri

Previously known as Bitwala, Nuri is an app that manages, saves, and grows your money. It was founded in 2015 by Jan Goslicki, Benjamin Jones and Jörg von Minckwitz. They have since reimagined the mobile and web app and redesigned its overall outlook to make managing money easier.

With Nuri, you can invest in cryptocurrencies, create savings plans, and earn up to 5% interest per year on Bitcoin directly from a German bank account.

N26

At the beginning, the N26 app wasn’t taken seriously by traditional banks. However, they have since proven to be incredibly successful with 5 million customers in 24 markets across Europe.

According to sifted, they own more than double the funding of the second largest fintech giant, Kreditech. The company is adjusting their services to international clients, adapting their website, app, and customer service. Another benefit of N26 is no transaction fees, no currency conversion fees, and excellent support for travelling.

The app offers several features specifically designed to budget and save money. It replaces a more ‘traditional bank’ with a mobile-based offering. You can get the standard account for free and will receive a MasterCard debit card, as well as a free Maestro card. 

Friday   

According to Netguru, Friday is the ‘perfect start-up for car insurance’, as the concept is based on the amount of kilometres that you drive. Funded in 2017, the company experienced significant growth with 45,000 customers and €114m of secured funding. The contract has a monthly termination option and requires no lengthy paperwork to insure your car. It is easy to handle and navigate via Friday’s mobile app and online system.   

Wefox  

This fintech company is a digital marketplace for insurance. They strongly believe in the value that the protection and ownership of your data is a basic human right – an aspect very attractive to customers.   

Wefox provides you with insurance and makes sure that your data is used properly under supervision. It is a highly-rated company with over 400,000 customers. With more than 1,500 brokers, some hail it as “Europe’s number one insurance platform”.

Finleap   

Finleap, is Berlin-based start-up that launched 16 fintech companies. Having built up a significant fintech ecosystem in Berlin, their launched companies were funded in just 5 years. Finleap’s ecosystem consists of digital banks such as Penta, white-label insurance tech such as Element, and SolarisBank - a platform for banks.  

Raisin

With 170,000 customers in over 30 countries, Raisin cooperates with 76 banks and manages more than €12bn in assets. It’s known as the “European online marketplace for savings and investments”.   

Taxfix 

Taxfix delivers support in processing tax returns via a mobile app and web service, with the aim of achieving maximum rebates (should they be accurate). Should you receive a tax refund of €50, you won’t have to pay a fee. However, Taxfix charges a set fee of €34.99 for refunds over €50.

However, this service is still considered very affordable, meaning most users pay the fee at the end of the tax return process. Taxfix is currently live in Germany and plans to expand to France and Italy soon.

The fintech scene is growing every year, and the market is continually expanding. Due to the increasing amount of impressive fintech start-ups, it can be challenging to sift through them and identify today’s major players. So, I hope this overview has helped you identify who to look out for – and decide whether this industry is one you’d like to progress your career in.

If you’re intrigued or simply want to chat, get in touch – we can discuss all available opportunities and we can progress on your journey together.